With the second weekend of the Premier League about to get underway today I was interested to see the Sunday Times’ predictions and how they likened each club to a country.
They said Newcastle United, badge pictured below, were similar to Albania as they are both “chaotic, confused and unpredictable.”
That may or may not be true of the Geordies’ club, but I think it is harsh on the Balkans country which has made great progress in recent years.
Albania certainly had its troubles in the 1990s as it moved from an isolated Stalinist dictatorship closed to the rest of the world for 47 years to a Western democracy which is now a member of NATO and wishes to join the European Union.
But I don’t think visitors arriving today at the smart, modern airport in the capital, Tirana, find it chaotic, confused and unpredictable.
Incidentally, the last time I travelled to Albania I forgot I had an old packet of razor blades tucked away at the bottom of my bathroom bag in my overnight case which I took on board my British Airways flight.
It wasn’t picked up by security at Gatwick Airport on the way out, but it was detected by officials at Rinas Airport, Tirana, on the way home, proving that Albania is not that chaotic.
For interested football fans, Stoke City were likened to the former East Germany – “not especially cuddly but you wouldn’t want to fight them.”
QPR were Somalia as they are “ungovernable” while Aston Villa were South Korea “with North Korea’s Kim Jong-il as president.”
If you want to know which country your club were likened to email me on John@jbutterworth.plus.com
No comments:
Post a Comment